2016

Senior Lecturer Mark Goldfeder was quoted in the New York Times on the Justice Department's decision to file a lawsuit against a New Jersey township. It alleges discrimination against Muslim residents who want to build a mosque there. The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act was intended to protect all religious faiths, but 11 of the last 13 cases brought by the Justice Department have involved Muslims. "The law, by its very nature, deals with particularly vulnerable populations," Goldfeder said. "It's so easy for towns to hide discrimination behind layers of land-use procedure."

In 2016, the American Center for Law and Justice published a seven-point plan to stop the ISIS genocide against Christians, which can be applied in any instance where the U.S. recognizes that genocide is taking place, Senior Lecturer Mark Goldfeder writes with co-author Ján Figel. "These practical steps for governmental intervention include calling upon the various U.N. organs to formally recognize the genocides taking place, to prosecute war criminals and to establish in-region safe zones for genocide victims, which would also eliminate the need for mass refugee relocation," the op-ed reads.

On Nov. 9, pharmaceutical stocks soared as Donald Trump's election victory eased concerns about government intervention in drug pricing, Emory Law Professor Joanna Shepherd writes for Morning Consult. Pharmaceutical stocks had generally underperformed this year as the market, like much of America, awaited a Clinton victory. Trump had less to say on drug pricing, hence the market's favorable response to his unexpected victory. "Yet, as the end of the first post-election month draws near, we are still uncertain whether Trump is friend or foe to the pharmaceutical industry," she writes.

For Georgia Public Broadcasting's "Lessons from Left Field," Celeste Headlee and Sean Powers talked with Emory Law Adjunct Professor Janet Metzger about her classes on courtroom theater. "The law school conducts classes you expect--contracts, torts--but it also offers one you might not: drama. The professor behind it--and before it--is Janet Metzger. We talked with her and law student Prasad Hurra about the class."

Advocates accused Ga. State Rep. Jason Spencer of targeting Muslim women with proposed changes to a 1951 state law passed to unmask the Ku Klux Klan, the Associated Press reports. Backlash later prompted him to quickly discard the idea. Georgia's highest court has narrowly interpreted the 1951 law to apply only when one wears a mask to intimidate others, and the new bill's language would added "she" to the law. Even if passed, the proposed changes wouldn't apply to Muslim women "because they're not wearing their gear to intimidate anybody," said Emory Law Professor Michael Perry.

During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump relentlessly attacked Gonzalo Curiel, the judge in a lawsuit charging that Trump University defrauded thousands of consumers. However, Curiel allowed Trump's motion to postpone the trial until Nov. 28, after the election. Had he not, says Emory Law Professor George Shepherd, "news reports would have focused not on Trump speaking before thousands of adoring supporters at his rallies, but instead on Trump sweating under humiliating cross-examination."

In December, parties to the Nagoya Protocol, an international treaty governing the use of genetic resources from medicinal plants to pest-killing microbes, plan to discuss whether and how the agreement should apply to digital DNA sequences. The treaty was was meant in part to prevent richer nations from unfairly benefiting from genetic resources originating in poorer countries, Science magazine reports. However, It's one thing to declare that your laws protect digital sequences, and another to actually find and pursue those who violate them, says Emory Law Professor Margo Bagley.

The verdict on Nov. 8, 2016, was not unanimous, especially when Secretary Clinton will end up with a popular vote advantage. Yet, it is a message of extreme magnitude from voters willing to overlook the serious flaws of a candidate because they could not reconcile themselves to ratifying the perpetuation of politics as usual.

While speculation swirls over the content of Donald Trump's presidential agenda, one task that President Trump will surely face once he takes office is to fill the Supreme Court seat that has remained open since Justice Antonin Scalia's death. Moreover, beyond the Supreme Court, Trump will appoint numerous lower federal court judges, Emory Law Professor Jonathan Nash writes for The Hill.

Bloomberg asked Emory Law Professor Michael Kang whether the 2013 U.S. Supreme Court Shelby v. Holder decision affected this year's presidential election. "It's pretty hard to say at this point," Kang said. "For something like this to matter in terms of affecting a big presidential election, it has to affect a lot of votes. It's not clear that it would affect enough votes that it would affect the outcome in a particular state."

When Baker & Hostetler Partner Emily Crosby learned how children of incarcerated parents struggle, she contacted Emory Law's Barton Child Law and Policy Center to do something about it. The Support Kids of Incarcerated Parents (SKIP) program recently marked its success with a gala featuring "Orange Is the New Black" author Piper Kerman. Director Melissa Carter tells the Daily Report 11 percent of Georgia's foster children have an incarcerated parent. About 70 percent of children with a parent in jail or prison end up incarcerated themselves.

After 40 years of protests, California's San Onofre Nuclear Plant waits to be dismantled. For the activists who fought to close the plant, the victory is bittersweet, says a Bloomberg story. The reactors will disappear, but 1,600 metric tons of radioactive waste remain. A Texas facility has proposed to store as much as 40,000 metric tons of waste, for as long as 40 years. Allowing an interim site "lets the utilities off the hook," making them less inclined to push for a permanent solution, said Mindy Goldstein, director of Emory Law's Turner Environmental Law Clinic.

In an open letter published in the Daily Report to Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, retired judge Thelma Wyatt Moore 71L, president of Advocacy for Action, Inc., asks him to consider increasing the diversity of the state Supreme Court, Court of Appeals and Fulton County Superior Court when filling recent vacancies.

Decades of court decisions created the "California Rule," which guarantees government workers the pension that was in place on the day they were hired. But a California appeals court declared in August that public retirement plans were not "immutable" and could be reduced. Emory Law Associate Professor Alexander Volokh called the decision "a big change from what the doctrine has been so far" and expressed doubt that it would be upheld, in a Los Angeles Times story about the case.

On Oct. 11, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the patent dispute between Apple and Samsung. "This is the first time the Supreme Court has addressed design patents in more than a century," Emory Law Professor Tim Holbrook writes for The Conversation. "This generally sleepy area of intellectual property has awoken. And, reading the tea leaves from the oral argument, it seems that Samsung will likely win at the Supreme Court." Holbrook joined a brief that says Samsung should not have to give up all the profits that resulted from swiping some of Apple's design features. "Based on how the oral argument went, I'd wager the Supreme Court thinks that outcome was wrong, too," he says.

On Oct. 12, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia named Sam Olens 83L president of Kennesaw State University. Olens assumes his new role on Nov. 1, 2016. He is currently Georgia's attorney general. "Sam Olens' two decades of public service and outstanding leadership qualities make him the right person to lead Kennesaw State University at the right time," said Board of Regents Chair Kessel Stelling, Jr.

After two U.S. Supreme Court judges recused themselves from a case involving post-9/11 detentions, Politico quoted Emory Law Professor Jonathan Nash on the issue. If only six justices hear the case, it could make it easier for conservatives to prevail since four of the justices still on the case are Republican appointees, the story says. Only four justices are needed to grant certiorari in a case. "It may be the conservatives voted for cert because they may actually have a chance to win," Nash said.

"In August, in United States v. McIntosh, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that criminal defendants have standing to assert violation by the Department of Justice of a congressional appropriation rider as a basis for obtaining an injunction against the DOJ," Emory Law Professor Jonathan Nash writes for The Hill. "The ruling, grounded in the solid legal foundation of Supreme Court precedent, may provide a basis for Congress to allow private actors to challenge executive branch overreach."

Clawback policies have become the norm in the U.S., especially at larger companies. Wells Fargo's policy is triggered by financial restatements. The policy allows the bank to recover unvested stock awards where misconduct "might reasonably be expected to" cause "reputational or other harm." Emory Law Assistant Professor George S. Georgiev noted Wells Fargo only acted to enforce its clawback policy after public reaction to the issue became too loud to ignore. "I would favor more oversight by boards over additional complexity in compensation practices," he said. Additional complexity only makes it easier, and creates multiple opportunities, for executives to game the system, he said.

Revelations that Donald Trump may have used $916 million in losses to sidestep paying federal income taxes for nearly two decades doesn't demonstrate exceptionally crafty tax work, Professor Dorothy Brown, a scholar in tax policy, told the AJC. "It's basic," she said. While the system may be flawed, using such a loss is legal. "If there's a genius, it is not the guy who signed the return, but the person who prepared the return," Brown said.

The New York Times says in 1995, Donald Trump reported a nearly $1 billion loss from his businesses--a loss large enough to have potentially allowed him to earn an average of $50 million a year, tax-free, for 18 years. Trump appears to have done what many other rich Americans have done: hire cunning professionals to help them preserve their wealth and avoid taxes. As Professor Dorothy Brown puts it, "It's not criminal, but it's awful, it's unfair, it's unjust."

Wells Fargo says it will recover $60 million in stock grants from two top executives in the wake of the phony account-opening scandal. It fired 5,300 employees for opening bogus accounts, returned $2.6 million in improper customer fees and paid a $185 million fine. Those figures pale, though, compared with Wells Fargo's $1.9 trillion in assets and $23 billion in earnings last year. "Even though the fraud was on a massive scale, at the same time, the impact on the bottom line was fairly minimal," said Emory Law Assistant Professor George S. Georgiev. "Often in these borderline cases, you can tell yourself a story as to why something is material or not depending on what you want the outcome to be."

Professor Tim Holbrook spoke with law.com about what promises to be a blockbuster term for intellectual property cases at the U.S. Supreme Court. There are four IP cases on the docket and potentially more coming, Scott Graham writes. In Samsung Electronics v. Apple, the court will address design patent damages for the first time in more than 100 years. Also on the docket: Life Technologies v. Promega, where the federal circuit held that supplying a single component from the United States for a multicomponent invention manufactured abroad can give rise to induced infringement. Holbrook wrote an amicus brief in that case, and expects a reversal.

Presidential candidate Donald Trump's assertion he would "take all the oil out of Iraq," violates international law, says Laurie Blank, director of the International Humanitarian Law Clinic. "There is a remarkably robust and comprehensive framework of law that applies specifically in war to regulate the conduct of hostilities and the protection and treatment of persons," she writes for Jurist. "Occupation is not a license to bleed a country dry," she adds. "The days of war as conquest are long over."

Another wrinkle in the case is drought conditions in 53 Georgia counties, including all of Atlanta. "The fix isn't going to be simple," said Mindy Goldstein, director of Emory Law's Turner Environmental Law Clinic. She's working with Georgia and Alabama environmental groups to weigh in on the case. "It's not just one group or one area or one thing that needs to be fixed. The fix is going to be hard and it's going to be complicated."

U.S. prosecutors pursuing alleged bribery in Africa have Och-Ziff, one of the world's largest and most powerful hedge funds, in their sights. In addition to a large fine, U.S. authorities have said they now want individuals to be called to account for corporate crime, according to the Financial Times. Another worry for the company is potential loss of "qualified professional asset manager" status. "Losing QPAM would make life more difficult for Och-Ziff," said Emory Law Associate Professor Urska Velikonja.

Donald Trump's stance that the U.S. should have taken oil out of Iraq following the 2003 invasion would have been a violation of the fourth Geneva Convention and likely other international agreements, Laurie Blank tells the Wall Street Journal. Blank is director of Emory Law's International Humanitarian Law Clinic. "Under the fourth Geneva Convention, when you are an occupying power, you are a caretaker, you are administering the territory," she said. "The idea is to keep it as close to status quo as possible and give it back. It's not yours to do with it what you want."

Associate Professor Alexander Volokh is the incoming chair of Emory's Committee on Open Expression. He was quoted by the Chronicle of Higher Education in a story which examines the current debate both inside and outside academe on the concept of "safe space." (subscription required)

Georgetown's announcement it will rename buildings, establish an institute to study slavery, and extend preferential treatment in admissions for descendants of the 272 slaves it sold in 1838 "are all welcome steps," says Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown. However, the sale "at its core was a financial decision," she writes. "Georgetown needed money and sold 'property' to enable it to pay debts and keep the doors open." The university should set aside $3.3 million (the inflation adjusted amount of the 1838 sale proceeds) "in a fund administered by a court-appointed official to oversee the requests of the descendants ... for how they want Georgetown to atone to them."

Emory Law Professor Tim Holbrook says Epipen's allusion to the drug supply chain and health insurance companies as part of the reason behind its recent price hikes is difficult to understand. "I don't find it terribly legitimate because it's not clear to me how different that is than in the past," he tells Medpage Today. "Maybe the Affordable Care Act created this dynamic in some way--that may explain some pressure on the price but I don't think it explains that significant of a jump."

The 2016 Cobb primary illustrates how anonymous political contributions, which have become the norm in national politics, can be converted into campaign spending in a local election, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution story that details "dark money" spent on the race. Emory Law Professor Michael Kang said the problem with these contributions is that it makes credibility judgments more difficult for voters. The organizations must report broad categories of spending to the IRS, he said, but that isn't "timely or helpful to people interested in disclosure."

Earlier this month, Trump proposed "extreme vetting" to ban immigrants who believed Sharia law should supplant American law. But while this might play well to some of his supporters, it is detached from reality, according to a recent CNN story. Muslims who say they want Sharia law are not necessarily extremists. "Sharia as an ethical normative system underpinning the laws that are enacted through constitutional institutions--much in the same way that Americans consider Christianity as underpinning American law and culture," says Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law Abdullahi An-Na'im.

Professor Tim Holbrook writes for The Conversation on the forces behind the rapidly escalating price for an EpiPen. The patent system is not to blame, he says. A lack of competition and the FDA's regulatory role are. "At present, companies will charge prices that the market can bear for these drugs," he writes. "The FDA is in a unique position to act. It should revisit its role in this regulatory structure to ensure it is striking the appropriate balance between protecting patients from flawed drugs and ensuring drugs get to market to reduce prices."

The Department of Justice's decision to wind down private-prison contracting was apparently based on those prisons' bad record of safety and security violations compared to public ones, Emory Law Associate Professor Alexander Volokh writes. "It turns out, though, that the DOJ's understanding of private prisons' record is informed by a serious over-reading of faulty comparative studies, in particular a recent study by the Office of the Inspector General."

Emory Law Associate Professor Alexander Volokh was quoted by the BBC on the Obama administration's decision to phase out contracts with private, for-profit prisons that house federal inmates. It was based on findings that they don't provide substantial savings or maintain the same levels of security and safety found in public facilities. Volokh says private prisons could perform better if they followed models such as the United Kingdom's that make payment contingent on performance. Story starts at 1:02.

Vice Dean Robert Ahdieh recently discussed the value of a juris master degree with Bloomberg News writer Blake Edwards. Emory Law launched its JM program in 2011, and now admits about 40 students annually. Medical and business schools are already offering law-related classes to meet a need more naturally met by law schools, he said. Emory Law JM applicants are typically older and well-informed, evidence of sustainable demand. "Among mid-career professionals, we're seeing substantial interest," Ahdieh said.

Professor Michael Kang commented on a recent federal lawsuit filed by voting rights groups against Gwinnett County. More than half the county population is black, Latino or Asian-American, yet no minority has ever been elected to either the Board of Commissioners or the Board of Education. The suit says districts are drawn in a way that dilutes the minority vote. Since 2013's Shelby v. Holder decision, the burden is on plaintiffs to prove such claims. "Just the pure population numbers aren't enough," Kang said. "You also have to show that white voters vote for a different set of candidates than the minority voters in a way that swamps the minority vote." Local elections are much more likely to be affected than national races, he said. "These are hard claims to prove, and expensive." Interview starts at 35:35.

Describing meaningful internships is key when applying to law school, says Emory Law Senior Assistant Dean for Admission Ethan Rosenzweig. But the experience should determine placement. "If the internship is a central focus of student's application or reasons to pursue a career in law, then I'd recommend that the experience should be woven into the personal statement," he tells U.S. News and World Report. Also, don't be afraid to include ones that weren't great, he adds. Sometimes the strongest applications describe what the applicant didn't enjoy and how that helped refocus their goals.

It's wrong for judges to enter the political fray, Professor Jonathan Nash writes for The Hill, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's disparaging remarks about presidential nominee Donald Trump were no exception. "It thus was entirely appropriate, and a most welcome development, for Justice Ginsburg to recognize the error of her ways and apologize," he writes.

Are the wealthiest colleges educating enough low-income students? Some argue that given their affluence and tax breaks, they should do more, says a recent Chronicle of Higher Education story. Colleges strive to be the best at things they care about, says Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown, but few strive for racial or socioeconomic diversity. "As long as they're in the range of their peers, then everything is good. Somehow mediocrity was fine when we're talking about diversity."

Voting rights advocates filed a lawsuit against Gwinnett County which says district lines for both the county Board of Commissioners and Board of Education "dilute minority voting power, as well as the at-large voting method for the county commission chair," WABE reports. More than half the county's population is black, Latino or Asian-American, yet no minority has been elected to either board, the story says. The suit reflects the post-Shelby era, says Emory Law Professor Michael Kang. "Everything is shifting to these types of Section Two claims that puts the onus on the plaintiff to bring suit," Kang said.

Donald Trump's recent comments on whether it's important to press for the rule of law in Turkey illuminate his campaign's 'America First' ideology, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Mary Dudziak writes for the New York Times. "He rejects the idea that American moral leadership matters."

A federal judge has struck down part of a Georgia law aimed at allowing employees to end their union memberships at any time. It's a victory for union supporters in a region that tends to be friendlier to employers. Emory Law Professor Charles Shanor said the National Labor Relations Act has allowed unions to negotiate for periods of time in which members can't just stop paying their dues, usually for up to a year. "What Georgia's saying is: no, the person can turn around and take it back the next day. Well that removes the ability of the union to fiscally plan for operations over, let's say, the next one year period," he said.

Bright-line vs. balancing test: In the Merrill Lynch case, the Supreme Court had an opportunity to limit the state-law federal-question jurisdiction to the federal-question statute itself, Professor Jonathan Nash writes for The Hill. "Instead, it chose to extend it to a jurisdictional provision of the federal Securities Exchange Act that provides for exclusive federal court jurisdiction over any suit 'brought to enforce any liability or duty created by' the Securities Exchange Act or the regulations promulgated thereunder."

Writing for The Hill, Professor Jonathan Nash sees parallels between the historic Marbury v. Madison case and FBI Director James Comey's decision not to seek criminal charges against presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. "Comey left ultimate judgment to the political system and the ballot box, and preserved as best he could the integrity of the FBI as an independent actor within the Department of Justice and the executive branch," Nash writes.

The U.S. Supreme Court voted 4-4 on United States v. Texas, which would have shielded some immigrants from deportation. Professor Jonathan Nash suspects the court was sharply divided both on standing and merit. "We can reason that the court split on both states' standing to file suit (a procedural issue) and also on the merits (the substantive issues). The breadth of this divide highlights the importance the identity of the person who will join the court as its ninth justice, and presumably break ties like these."

An Army officer has taken President Barack Obama to court over his the military campaign against ISIS, arguing the war is illegal because Congress has not authorized it. No military draft, reliance on contractors, and high-tech warfare have insulated the American public from the cost and consequences of war, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Mary Dudziak writes. "Without a personal stake, Americans pay little attention to their country's ongoing wars. Presidents no longer need to wait for an attack on Americans to galvanize public support for armed conflict."

Brexit will be viewed as historic on many levels, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But many investors are concerned about the immediate effect on the stock market. "Short-term, if you are in an index fund, today is not a good day," K.H. Gyr Professor of Private International Law Robert Ahdieh told the AJC on Friday. "But it's not impossible that Monday, people will say, hey, there's an opportunity to buy."

The Supreme Court's decision upholding the University of Texas' affirmative action program has little direct impact on Georgia public colleges--but Indirectly, it's likely to increase discussions about how to increase campus diversity, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution story says. "Today's opinion in some ways just upholds the status quo," said Visiting Professor of Law Fred Smith. "Whether public colleges in Georgia want to look at more ways to increase diversity is not so much a constitutional question, so much as a policy question."

Donald Trump again called to ban Muslims from entering the United States after a mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub, Politifact reports. He said Pew Research found 99 percent of those in Afghanistan support "oppressive Sharia law." Different countries interpret and apply Sharia law differently, and as with other religions, interpretations change over time, said Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law Abdullahi Ahmed An-Nai'im. "Sharia is understood to be the religious obligations of Muslims, but it is a normative system in which Muslims have profound differences and always have," he said.

Welcome to the Year of the Whiner, where complaining about the process of electing a president is nonstop, says U.S. News. One example: states that moved up their primaries despite party rules. "There does seem to be more of the griping about rules this year," said Emory University Law Professor Michael Kang. "Sanders and Trump are nontraditional candidates, and they have different kinds of supporters who are not familiar with or comfortable with the rules," he added. "When the two collide, they are generally not happy about it."

Research shows that juveniles waive their Miranda rights at extremely high rates--several studies say roughly 90 percent, according to a recent ABA Journal article. They may not understand what they're giving up. Randee Waldman helps Emory Law students represent juveniles via the Barton Child Law and Policy Center. In Georgia, officers often read a Miranda warning written in the first person that says, "I have a right to remain silent." Children find that confusing, Waldman says, and courts have asked the police to do better.

The ACLU is challenging a ruling that shaved four weeks from Georgia's standards concerning abortion--from 24 to 20. The organization says it did not receive proper notice of an Oct. 30 decision in time to appeal. Sovereign immunity has protected the state from litigation previously, but may not this time, said Emory Law Visiting Professor Fred Smith Jr. A phrase in Georgia's constitution may prevent the principle from being applied in cases where a law's constitutionality is being questioned, he tells WABE.

Ira Pittman, a 62-year-old choir director, says he was given the choice to either retire or be fired after church members at Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church discovered he was gay. Pittman had worked there for more than 20 years, according to a WABE story. The church decision isn't illegal, says Emory Law Professor Charles Shanor. "Georgia has no law which bars discrimination by private employers," he said. Shanor is former general counsel for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Pittman has filed a complaint with the federal agency.

Student loan borrowers who want to discharge loans need to convince a bankruptcy judge that repaying the loans would cause them to face "undue hardship." Judges can interpret "undue" to mean either "excessive" or "unjust." Interpreting undue to mean excessive raises a much simpler question, Katy Stech writes in the Wall Street Journal. "How would the borrower be affected if told to fully repay the loans? Would that burden be too much?" "The more it becomes an economic calculus, it should be easier" for borrowers to prove, says Emory Law Professor Rafael Pardo.

North Carolina's refusal to back down on its "bathroom law" requiring transgender citizens to use restrooms aligned with their birth gender has led to a rare drawing of lines in the sand, Emory Law Professor Tim Holbrook told the Wall Street Journal. Republican leaders say they will not respond to recent notice by the U.S. Justice Department that the law is a civil rights violation.

Although there are now only eight U.S. Supreme Court justices following Antonin Scalia's death, a tie vote by the court may sometimes actually create more guidance on some issues, Emory Law Professor Jonathan Nash writes for The Hill. Franchise Tax Board v. Hyatt illustrates that, in regard to the Full Faith and Credit Clause, he says. "Scalia's absence resulted in the court providing guidance on the second issue--guidance that would probably never have come to light had Scalia been on the court," he writes.

Today, the D.C. U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed course in the Amtrak case, DOT v. Association of American Railroads. The court cites Associate Professor Alexander Volokh's Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy article, "The New Private-Regulation Skepticism: Due Process, Non-Delegation, and Antitrust Challenges." It resolves the case "pretty much exactly how I argued it should be resolved, both relying mostly on Due Process," Volokh writes for the Volokh Conspiracy.

"So-called no-injury class actions, in which class members can't show a clear-cut harm, primarily line the pockets of plaintiffs lawyers," Corporate Counsel says, citing Emory Law Professor Joanna Shepherd's recent empirical study. "As you'd expect, plaintiffs lawyers and defense lawyers have very different reactions to the study's findings," the story continues. "Although 60 percent of the total award may be available to class members, in reality they typically receive less than 9 percent of the total," Shepherd says.

Adjunct Professors Matthew McCoyd and Randall Kessler talked with WABE 90.1 about jury selection in the case of a father accused of leaving his 22-month-old son to die in a hot car. Jury selection in now in its third week. McCoyd, a former DeKalb Country district attorney, notes it's the only time attorneys can speak with jurors. "The lawyers are establishing their individual, personal credibility with the jurors when they're talking to them," McCoyd said. Kessler says lawyers are looking for nonverbal cues, too. "If they shudder. If the thought of this crime makes them wince and they can't even look you in the eye when talking about it, that might not be a good person for the defense," Kessler said.

Unforeseen events and financial missteps can wreck households. But for minorities, "it's far, far more likely," according to an Atlantic story. "Tax law is a political, a social, and an economic document. So of course there are going to be racial disparities," Professor Dorothy Brown said. "To say, 'the tax law is neutral' is just nonsense." One example is the "marriage penalty" which disproportionately affects black couples. Whites are also more likely to have access to pensions and other retirement plans, which help build tax-free wealth for later in life.

As Republican lawmakers continue to pass bills aimed at protecting the religious freedom of those opposed to same-sex marriage, a new separatist social vision is evolving, Harry Bruinius writes in the Christian Science Monitor. Those with "sincerely held religious beliefs," including businesses that provide public services, can separate themselves, or opt out of social obligations surrounding same-sex marriage. "People are getting further and further entrenched in their positions and digging lines in the sand in a way that isn't helpful to anyone," says Emory Law Senior Lecturer Mark Goldfeder. "And it's pretty terrible for our national culture."

An North Carolina law that halts antidiscrimination protections for LGBT citizens led to PayPal canceling its plans to open a large operations center in Charlotte. The governor says the law was meant to prevent transgender persons from using bathrooms of the opposite gender in schools and public restrooms. But the law goes much further, says Emory Law Professor Tim Holbrook, including the right to sue for wrongful termination on the basis of discrimination. "It effectively strips away any protection for the LGBT community across the state of North Carolina," he said, adding he is "cautiously optimistic" federal courts will eventually strike down the law.

Paypal had planned to open an operations center in Charlotte, N.C., and bring 400 jobs to the state. But after N.C. passed a law stipulating that transgender individuals must use restrooms corresponding to the gender on their birth certificate, the company killed those plans. A Christian Science Monitor story referenced a CNN op-ed by Emory Law Professor Tim Holbrook, which notes a religious freedom law passed in Indiana last year cost the state about $60 million in tourist and convention revenue. "Both Georgia and North Carolina have marketed themselves as being good for business," Holbrook said. "Indiana apparently was not a big enough canary in the coal mine."

Politico asked historians and foreign policy experts to project how candidate Donald Trump would handle a 9/11-type attack as president. "In light of Donald Trump's tendency to react to problems by blaming minority groups, including Muslims, and promoting torture, we might expect more of the same, perhaps at a greater volume, than we've seen so far," Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Mary Dudziak said. "That would serve Trump and the nation poorly. The way the United States treats minority groups has had an impact on U.S. foreign relations in the past, and would be a problem in a Trump presidency."

Emory Law Senior Lecturer Mark Goldfeder commented on this week's news concerning Zubik v. Burwell. "The court is asking for the parties to help craft a process by which the affected employees can get their contraception easily covered, in a way that does not violate their employer's religious beliefs," he said. "The way this case has often been portrayed in the media, it has been about a clash between religious liberty and reproductive rights," he adds. "As became clear in the arguments today, that is a false dichotomy, and a false narrative."

What if a supermajority of states could override a federal law or Supreme Court ruling? Article V of the Constitution allows a minimum of two-thirds of the states to call for a convention to propose amendments and go around Congress. But it's never happened, and is unlikely to, Emory Law Dean Robert Schapiro told Fox News. "Given the divided times which we face, and given the broad brush of these amendments, I think it's unlikely to garner the kind of support that would be necessary actually to reach that two-thirds benchmark."

"Nathan Deal is considering vetoing House Bill 859, the 'campus carry' bill, because of its impact on mothers and children in college day care centers and high school children who attend college classes," Emory Law Professor Frank Vandall writes for the Daily Report. "There are 10 other reasons he should."

The Georgia General Assembly just passed a religious freedom bill which resembles the one Indiana passed last year. "That bill has cost Indiana at least $60 million in tourist revenue," Emory Law Professor Timothy Holbrook writes for CNN. But Georgia's bill is worse, and there's still time for the governor to veto it. "The bill, if signed into law, could have significant economic consequences for Atlanta," he says.

Under U.S. law, a designation of genocide opens the door to prosecuting any person alleged to be responsible for this heinous international law violation "even if the location, defendant and victims had no connection to the U.S.," Laurie Blank, director of the International Humanitarian Law Clinic writes for CNN. Unlike a congressional resolution, Thursday's statement by Secretary of State John Kerry that ISIS has committed genocide triggers an obligation "to take measures to prevent and punish the crime."

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal says he aims for middle ground on pending religious exemptions legislation. "It is important that we protect fundamental religious beliefs," Deal said. "But we don't have to discriminate against other people in order to do that. And that's the compromise that I'm looking for." Emory Law Assistant Professor Alexander Volokh reviewed the bill and said, "If your goal is to not sign anything that allows for discrimination, you have to veto this bill. At the very least, it allows faith-based organizations to refuse to serve whoever they want for religious reasons."

"It is widely known that Donald Trump is being sued, including in class-actions--by thousands of people who charge that he defrauded them of millions of dollars," Emory Law Professors Morgan Cloud and George Shepherd write in a co-authored opinion article for the Wall Street Journal. "But there seems to be public confusion about how these lawsuits might affect the presidential campaign. Despite what Mr. Trump says, it appears likely that he will be called to the witness stand before the November election."

"What would a top law school have to do in order to entice university administrators to decide to shut it down?" Professor and Vice Provost Dorothy Brown asks in a Forbes opinion article. "Primarily, the law school would have to be hemorrhaging a lot of money over a sustained period of time with no end in sight," she says. "In two to four years, a university administration will shut down a top law school and we may never see it coming."

Emory Law Professor George Shepherd has been invited to testify before a House of Representatives subcommittee, on the issue of how the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council affects the leeway agencies have to interpret laws passed by Congress since. "Since the Supreme Court's ruling in Chevron, there has been increasing confusion in the courts, Congress, the legal bar, and legal academia on the issues of whether, when and how courts should defer to federal agencies' interpretations of the statutes they administer," according to a committee release. The hearing is before the House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law. Visit https://judiciary.house.gov/ for a live webcast of the hearing at 1:30 p.m. March 15.

Emory Law's I. T. Cohen Professor of International Law and Human Rights Johan Van der Vyver delivered a lecture on the Islamic State crisis and the rise of international humanitarian law. Speaking at the University of Pretoria's law department, he explained how the laws around terrorism changed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

"Human drivers will soon be one of those things--like the rotary phone or the typewriter--that you will have to tell your grandkids about," Emory Law Senior Lecturer Mark Goldfeder writes in a CNN op-ed. That might not be a bad thing: 33,000 Americans die annually in automobile accidents, 93 percent of which are caused by human error. Goldfeder examines the rise of Google's driverless cars and how they may affect the present legal standard of a "reasonable driver."

The SEC, the EPA and the EEOC all have Atlanta regional offices, Professor Paul Zwier writes in an editorial co-written Reuben Guttman 85L. "Atlanta is not just a center of international trade, it is also a center for compliance enforcement. With the growth of multinational corporations whose businesses are not defined by geographic boundaries, government agencies and their regional offices that enforce compliance must leverage limited resources to maintain a watchful eye and enforce the laws. Today, this may mean collection of evidence abroad."

Emory Law Senior Lecturer Mark Goldfeder says he doubts the U.S. Supreme Court would accept an appeal involving a Muslim inmate in Michigan who sued prison officials for violating his First Amendment free exercise rights. He allegedly received only 1,300 calories per day during Ramadan. "I would be surprised if the Court took it because it is less about qualified immunity and more about defining the underlying right," Goldfeder says.

President Barack Obama has several options when nominating the next U.S. Supreme Court justice, Emory Law Professor Michael Broyde writes for CNN. But 7th U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Posner is "the Michael Jordan of law," Broyde says. "The President should appoint a leading legal mind at the end of his career. Posner is a leading intellectual light of the past half-century in law."

Presidential candidate Donald Trump has declared waterboarding would be merely an introductory interrogation technique, Director of the International Humanitarian Law Clinic Laurie Blank writes in an op-ed for The Hill. "The dangers of this rhetoric are enormous. Torture is illegal," she says. "Tough talk of torture, enhanced interrogation techniques and carpet-bombing may make good campaign copy, but such rhetoric and acts not only violate the law, but ultimately undermine the very essence of leadership and morality."

For more than a decade Coca-Cola has sought trademark rights for the word "zero" in relation to beverages--especially soft drinks. The company has a decent shot at winning, but it's not altogether clear, Emory Law Professor Tim Holbrook tells the AJC. Numbers can be trademarked in some situations, Holbrook said. "It's harder to win trademark protection for a word that is descriptive (like the word 'beer' for the name of a beer) than it is for one that is merely suggestive and requires a further leap in thinking," AJC reporter Matt Kempner writes.

CNN's John Blake interviewed Emory Law Senior Lecturer Kathleen Cleaver about the continuing influence of the Black Panther Party, a half century since its founding. Cleaver isn't surprised some of the same battles the Panthers fought 50 years ago still exist, Blake writes. "The use of extralegal brutal violence and terrorism against black people seems to be a key part of the American experience," Cleaver says. "It didn't end with the Civil War, World I, or Vietnam. I'm not surprised that it hasn't ended now."

Emory Law Dean Robert Schapiro, who clerked at the Supreme Court during the late Justice Antonin Scalia's tenure, considers the conservative judge's legacy. "Justice Scalia's opinions, full of erudition, wit, and occasional vitriol, will long be quoted and will fill the pages of legal textbooks," Schapiro writes, in an opinion article for The Conversation. "But the memorable opinions will largely be dissents."

Every other Monday beginning Feb. 22, a portion of the Starbucks near the new Ponce City Market in Atlanta will become a law office for veterans. The Emory Law Volunteer Clinic for Veterans will offer Military Mondays, free legal advice to veterans looking for representation on everything from service-related disability claims to pension issues.

See a photo slideshow from the Emory Public Interest Committee's Inspiration Awards, featuring honorees from EPIC's 20th annual awards ceremony held at Emory Law Feb. 2. The awards and honorees are: Edward J. "Jack" Hardin, founding partner, Rogers & Hardin LLP (Lifetime Commitment to Public Service Award); Sally Quillian Yates, deputy attorney general, U.S. Department of Justice (Outstanding Leadership in the Public Interest Award); The Hon. Peggy H. Walker, chief judge, Juvenile Court of Douglas County (Unsung Devotion to Those Most in Need Award); and, Hana Shatila16L (3L Outstanding Commitment to Public Service Award).

The Georgia Legislature recently passed a bill that permits carrying guns in restaurants, churches and school parking lots. The "Safe Carry Protection Act" allows individuals to carry firearms almost anywhere in Georgia, Emory Law Professor Frank Vandall writes in the Daily Report. "As long as the proprietor does not forbid it, firearms may be carried in restaurants, bars and churches. Firearms are prohibited within 150 feet of a polling place, on the premises of a nuclear power facility, inside state mental health facilities, and inside a school building," Vandall writes.

The U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous summary reversal in the Idaho case might at first blush seem "of little interest and practical importance," says Emory Law Professor Jonathan Nash. But the case has ramifications elsewhere, including Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore's recent administrative order to state probate courts to not issue marriage certificates to same-sex couples, despite the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges.

Visiting Professor Fred Smith Jr. was interviewed on WABE 90.1 about a recent Georgia Supreme Court decision involving students who say protection against deportation under the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program supports their claim. Smith and WABE's Denis O'Hayer discussed how sovereign immunity influences the students' argument that they are eligible to pay in-state college tuition rates.

Emory Law Associate Professor Alexander "Sasha" Volokh commented on the growing number of bills before the Georgia legislature that touch on religious freedom issues. They include the "Pastor Protection Act" which its sponsor says affirms clergy's First Amendment right to refuse to marry a same-sex couple.

Senior Lecturer in Law Kathleen Cleaver is featured in an edition devoted to alumni who came of age and distinguished themselves during the civil rights era. The story details Cleaver's journey including growing up in segregated America, her work as communications secretary of the Black Panther Party and continuing career in law.

Khan Academy's move to patent a testing method in its online educational programs is a commentary on how much the system has changed in recent years, Emory Law Professor Tim Holbrook tells Inside Higher Ed. "It shows how the patent system has reached into areas that historically the ordinary person have thought patents should not belong in," he said. "When you think patents, you think pharmaceuticals. You think rockets. You don't think education."

"A Bullet in the Chamber: The Politics of Catastrophe and the Declaration of World War I," a lecture by Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Mary L. Dudziak, will air on C-SPAN3's American History TV on Sunday, Jan. 17, at 6:45 p.m. ET. The lecture was given as part of Dudziak's  work as Kluge Chair in American Law and Governance at the Library of Congress.

Tiffany & Co. is taking on Costco to protect its distinctive six-prong engagement rings, Fortune magazine reports. Tiffany says Costco advertised its own rings with the word "Tiffany" and has sued. Costco has argued the term is generic. Professor Tim Holbrook says the company is vigorously defending its uniqueness. "They definitely wanted a decision out there that says, 'No, you can't genericize their name'," Holbrook said. "It's about setting an example that Tiffany will not allow other parties to use its name in this way."

This year's fight over the "religious liberty" bill is shaping up to revolve around the same debate it did last year: the fate of an anti-discrimination amendment tacked onto the measure, the AJC reports. Emory Law Associate Professor Alexander Volokh commented at a public hearing. "Everybody who can dream up a religious exemption will try to push that in the courts," he said. "And almost always, they will lose. And particularly for discrimination cases."

Marietta attorney Lance Cooper 89L was profiled in Atlanta Magazine's January issue, in a story detailing his work on the lawsuit that alleged a faulty GM ignition switch led to the death of Brooke Melton in 2010. The case resulted in a massive recall of the company's vehicles.

While 3-D printers are a fantastic invention, their growing use presents a real problem for U.S. patent holders, Emory Law Professor Tim Holbrook writes for The Conversation. He argues the patent system is ill-equipped to deal with the evolving technology. "There is a great irony here," he says. "One of the greatest innovations of our time may ultimately undermine a key engine of innovation, the patent system."